Recently, we’ve discovered that our 3 year old has a sensitivity to sugar. As in, too much of it mixed with not enough protein makes her a very unhappy girl. I wrote a post about it a while ago (see link below) and got some great responses. Since

   Mixing it up- Much of what we eat contains sugar. And lots of it. Some of our daughter’s food staples are loaded. Instead of depriving her of the food she loves, we have tried to cut their sugar content in half. For instance, she loves instant oatmeal (the kind sweetened with fruit flavors). She eats 2 packets full in the morning or sometimes even before bed. Instead of using 2 of the sweetened packs, we’ve mixed one sweetened pack with one plain, non sweetened pack. She hasn’t even noticed a difference. I’ve done the same with her favorite yogurt. By mixing it ½ sweetened and ½ plain, we’ve cut the sugar and again, she hasn’t complained.

    Treats Redefined- “Treat” is a big word around our house. And it’s used far too often. More often than not, our daughter was musing about “treats” all throughout dinner.  It got beyond annoying, it was plain worrisome. We found that redefining what constituted a treat has made a difference for the better. We have opened up the word treat to not only mean almost anything that we eat after dinner (fruit, popcorn, pretzels) as a treat but also the non-food items. Taking the kids out for an evening stroll is now a “treat” or going to the park after dinner is a “treat”. I will admit, we have gotten some resistance (my daughter often looks at me bewildered and insists, “The park is not a treeeeeat!”) we are beginning to teach the kids that normal, everyday foods and activities are special too. It’s just a different and much healthier mindset.

    Rearranging- We have always had a snack cupboard where the kids could help themselves at snack time. It used to be full of what I used to consider healthy snacks (chewy granola bars, cereal bars, etc). Recently, I’ve replaced all those things with snacks lower in sugar and higher in protein (nuts, seeds, dry cereal, goldfish, etc) and after a few “where are the chewy granola bars?” they’ve never been mentioned again.

    Protein Power- Another way to we’ve attempted to counter my daughter’s sugar intake is to serve it up with a healthy dose of protein. If she wants pancakes, I’ll give her pancakes but I am sure to serve them with peanut butter (I’ve actually started buying low sugar pb) and a scrambled egg. Or if I’m making something like a pbj for lunch (which I try not to do much anymore) I’ll give her some strips of turkey or chicken to “snack on” as I’m making the sandwich. And it works! She’ll eat these high protein foods if she doesn’t feel like I’m taking away what she loves.

If you have any tips or tricks, please share them in the comments or write your own advice. It helps to have new ideas. We’re all in this together. Let’s work together to make healthier choices for our children and ourselves.